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Humanitarian Intervention after Kosovo pp 1–12Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Introduction: The Humanitarian Intervention Controversy

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Abstract

‘Humanitarian intervention’, despite its positive rhetorical connotations, has become one of the key causes of contention and controversy in contemporary international relations. Each of the issues inherent in this debate — human rights, sovereignty, order versus justice, the role of the UN — constitutes seminal current concems in itself; together the issues create almost limitless scope for discussion and dispute. This capacity for dissonance is unsurprising given that the fundamental question raised by this issue — ‘when is it right to use force to protect those suffering in other states?’ — interrogates humanity’s moral values, challenges the composition of the international political system and questions the responsibilities and duties of all major international actors.

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Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Westminster, UK

    Aidan Hehir (Senior Lecturer in International Relations)

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  1. Aidan Hehir
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© 2008 Aidan Hehir

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Hehir, A. (2008). Introduction: The Humanitarian Intervention Controversy. In: Humanitarian Intervention after Kosovo. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230584105_1

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